In this piece, Charlie Sultan, President of Concur Travel at SAP Concur, explores the findings of the seventh annual SAP Concur Global Business Travel Survey
Love it or hate it, AI has become embedded in everyday working life. The seventh annual SAP Concur Global Business Travel Survey shows that 88% of business travellers globally feel comfortable using AI-powered automation for aspects of business travel, from booking to managing expenses.
But for every helpful application of AI, there are potential malicious use cases that bad-faith actors can exploit. For example, anyone can log in to free tools like Google Gemini or ChatGPT and create realistic-looking, fraudulent documents – such as fake receipts or invoices – in seconds.
As a result, businesses are potentially at risk of employees using AI to falsify travel expenses. According to the survey’s findings, 67% of Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), 78% of travel managers, and 55% of business travellers say this is likely in their organisation. And one in 10 say they know it’s already happening.
Let’s unpack the risks and mitigation strategies businesses can use to squash the rise of such falsified receipts.
The risk of AI-generated receipts
The vast majority of incorrectly filed expense reports are the result of employee error, rather than intentional fraud. According to SAP Concur data, 15-20% of expense reports contain non-compliant spend, stemming from mistakes like duplicate transactions, non-itemised receipts, or out-of-policy spending.
Fake AI receipts are challenging for humans and older travel and expense (T&E) fraud detection systems to identify. Traditional methods rely on manual, post-submission reviews rather than real-time monitoring, and a lack of integrated third-party data makes it difficult to automatically verify expenses with external sources.
Documentation of audit and fraud detection efforts can also be inconsistent, making it difficult to establish patterns or trace repeated misuse. And most employees aren’t properly trained in how to identify AI-engineered fraud.
These factors lower the barrier to entry for employees seeking payouts for fabricated spending. Businesses end up footing the bill for travel, meals, and accommodation that were never purchased.
Steps to tackle AI-powered receipt fraud
Organisations must adapt their strategies to keep pace with technology – and virtually every industry is implementing methods to combat AI-powered fraud.
Universities are using AI detection software and reintroducing in-person exams. Banks and financial institutions are turning to biometrics and deepfake education.
Any company engaging in business travel should take a proactive and holistic approach to combat receipt falsification. Here are four practical steps:
- Build prevention into policy
Well-defined policies can help prevent AI receipt fraud. Add a layer of control by implementing pre-spending requests that require employees to seek approval for significant purchases. Comprehensive pre-spend audits can help review expense requests and flag potential issues.
To deter fraudsters, introduce guidelines detailing how the company will take action against fraud and pursue the recovery of embezzled expenses.
- Educate teams on the telltale signs
On first inspection, AI receipts can be highly convincing but often contain errors that reveal their inauthenticity. Make approvers aware of the signs to look for, including:
- Font or spelling irregularities
- Incorrect arithmetic or tax calculations
- Unnatural appearances, e.g. looks overly “glossy” or computer-generated
Some AI tools also attach digital watermarks to content, so you can check the metadata of a file to identify whether it was AI-generated. However, savvy grifters will know to remove these details by editing the data or printing their images. It’s important to deploy a mix of techniques and a healthy dose of scepticism.
- Practise post-spending due diligence
Digital systems can help monitor transactions and flag unusual activity after spending. Consider connecting your organisation’s expense systems directly to corporate cards, e-receipts, and travel booking platforms to automatically cross-verify expenses.
You can also use analytics platforms to search for unusual patterns, duplicate claims, or suspicious trends. Regularly review company spending data to identify high-volume or high-value spenders that may warrant further inspection.
- Build on AI to detect fraud
AI-falsified receipts are a growing challenge for organisations. But they shouldn’t neglect the majority of faulty expense reports filed unintentionally or without AI assistance.
Consider analysing trends using T&E solutions with built-in AI and machine learning capabilities. AI platforms can analyse thousands of data points at once, verifying transactions far faster and more accurately than manual review.
More than half (55%) of CFOs expect AI to catch more general errors and potential fraud than their teams if it’s used to automate expense approvals.
As T&E fraud evolves, organisations have an opportunity to modernise their defences and get ahead of the AI curve. By adopting combining policy, education, and advanced technology, leaders will protect their businesses.
